


If We Can't Protect This World... It's Probably Because Gavin's A Fucking Idiot

by iamtheoneinthehole



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Avengers AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-13
Updated: 2014-03-13
Packaged: 2018-01-15 13:17:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1306186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamtheoneinthehole/pseuds/iamtheoneinthehole
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more, to fight the battles that others never could... in hindsight, it might not have been the best idea Burnie ever had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If We Can't Protect This World... It's Probably Because Gavin's A Fucking Idiot

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this idea rapidly got away from me but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and might do a few little ficlets in this verse in future. Enjoy!
> 
> Geoff- Captain America 
> 
> Jack- Hulk 
> 
> Michael- Iron Man 
> 
> Ryan- Thor 
> 
> Gavin- Hawkeye
> 
> Ray- Black Widow

Gavin watched with undisguised interest as the redstone shifted and flickered in the warehouse below, focusing in on the strange patterns it cast against the walls even as he listened in on the conversation taking place below him between some of Burnie’s supposed ‘best and brightest’, the same best and brightest who’d been studying the power source for months now and had, as far as the Brit could tell, made little to no progress on either understanding or making using of the energy source. It’d gotten to the point that Gavin honestly wondered whether the expense and the risks involved in this project were actually worth it but Burnie’s expression when he’d given him this mission had made things pretty clear that he hadn’t been hired to give his opinion on this particular project so he’d kept his mouth shut, instead choosing to observe as the workers were dismissed, Burnie calling Gavin down from the rafters a few moments later.

The Brit nimbly slid down the rafters, bounding over to his boss with an unrestrained, hyperactive energy that only ever came out around those he really trusted. In the field, Gavin was one Roosterteeth’s most skilled and deadly, to the extent that awed whispers often followed the agent along the halls. To Burnie, Ray and a handful of others, however, he was the dumb idiot who wandered around asking stupid questions and had once managed to knock himself out with a broom handle while on a surveillance mission for the agency. Thankfully he’d been partnered with Ray and the man had managed to drag him out of enemy lines to their back up only to mercilessly tease the Brit about it when he’d eventually regained consciousness.

The transition from seamless professional to utter dumbass was something that, Gavin knew, often baffled those he chose to let in enough to see that side of him but fact was Gavin was good at his job, perhaps even the best (though he figured Ray could probably give him a good run for his money there) and maintaining that reputation required him to be serious in the eyes of his enemies and the majority of his coworkers… but at the same time that didn’t mean that he had to forget how to have a little fun once in a while. And while Burnie often referred to him as a constant thorn in his side and a pain in his ass, the grin that usually accompanied those words gave away that the man didn’t really mind when his top archer goofed off a little. If anything, it was a refreshing change from the usual drone-like employees they hired. Gavin had character and at the end of the day that meant Burnie would take him screaming ‘Mark Nutt’ across the archery range every time he hit the bullseye (so in other words every time he loosed an arrow) before taking a ‘lap of honor’ over the less efficient but more professional archers that worked under him any day.

"Report Agent Free, any changes from before?"  


"A few oscillations here and there and a surge earlier that looked bloody top but otherwise its been quiet. Whatever’s effecting it, its not on this end."  


"On this end?"  


"Well yeah the redstone’s meant to be a doorway right? And doors have two sides."  


As if to prove the Brit’s words right the redstone suddenly surged up forming a vortex which a man stepped out of, a twisted grin turning the corners of his lips as he seemed to study the people gathered around him.  


"My name is Michael Burns of Roosterteeth and on behalf of Planet Earth I order you to drop your weapon and stand down." The man only seemed to smile wider at this, brandishing his sword which seemed to shine with a similar light to the tesseract he’d just entered through, his dark eyes flitting between the workers who’d been studying the portal he’d just entered through (Caleb and Kerry) and Gavin who’d begun to subtly edge towards him, already nocking an arrow to his bow as he watched Kerry pull a taser from his pocket and Caleb grab a nearby vial of something from one of the desks set up in there.  


"Just put down the sword, this doesn’t have to get any messier."  


"Of course it does. I’ve come too far for anything else. I am Edgar of Achievement City and I am burdened with glorious purpose."  


"Edgar? As in Ryan’s brother Edgar?" Caleb asked, studying the man in front of him with a renewed wariness as he remembered the last time Earth had encountered an Asgardian ‘God’.  


"And Ryan as in God of Thunder Ryan?" Gavin chimed in, memories of the attempted lockdown they’d placed him under when he’d first arrived on Earth (or ‘Migard’ as the man had referred to it) springing to mind, a smile dancing in his eyes as he remembered an aggravated Joel complaining about how the God kept calling him ‘man of hay’ and the amused smirk on Ryan’s face that’d made it pretty evident that the God had known exactly what he was doing and was just doing it to fuck with him. The rest of his expression, however remained grim, determined as Gavin braced himself for the inevitable skirmish with the man, not having forgotten how formidable an opponent his brother had proven to be (and that’d been when the man was, mostly, on their side).  


"Yes my wonderful and oh so noble brother Ryan, God of Thunder, protector of the nine realms… Why is it you mortals always remember him and choose to forget about me?" Edgar cut in, the smug smirk gone in place of the annoyance now clouding the man’s expression as he eyed Gavin for a moment before turning back to Caleb, "I suppose you’re one of those humans he seemed so desperate to protect? I can’t say I’m entirely sure why but then again my brother always did have strange tastes when it came to his companions. Well I suppose you will send him a sufficient message," He mused for a moment before knocking the vial out of Caleb’s hands, quirking an unimpressed eyebrow at the small explosion it let off as it hit the ground, before pressing his sword to the man’s chest. Caleb seemed to struggle for a moment before his eyes began to shift in color as seemed to fall under the God’s influence.  


There was a beat of silence before the first arrow flew, Burnie immediately on the phone for backup as Kerry and Gavin attempted to hold the man off and away from the tesseract still casting its eerie patterns against the warehouse walls. Gavin managed to move across the room, mostly covered by arrow fire (though his options were somewhat limited by the fact that he didn’t want to mortally wound Caleb while he was under the God’s influence) until he reached the redstone, his hand closing around the block just as Edgar caught up with him. The God seemed to study him for a moment, even as Gavin reached for one of the knives that Ray had taught him how to use a few years back now, before catching the hand that’d been moving to grab the weapon and saying, “You seem to have great heart, or perhaps great stupidity, it’s hard to tell… I could use a man like you.”  


He’d been about to press the blade to Gavin’s chest when Kerry had barrelled into the God’s side, the sword instead making contact with his skin as a red sheen overtook the man’s eyes. The God had looked frustrated for a moment after that, even as he’d taken in his new loyal servant, brandishing his sword as if he were about to take a second stab at Gavin when alarms suddenly began to blare around the warehouse, clearly catching the God’s attention as he seemed to assess Gavin’s service as unworthy of his capture, rushing over towards the vehicle Caleb had acquired, Kerry quickly following after tasering Gavin who’d been prepared to follow in pursuit, the pain flaring through his body too much to ignore even as the van fell out of sight and two of the men he considered his closest friends with it.  
Burnie arrived with backup just in time to watch Gavin let out a frustrated shout of ‘bollocks’ at the ceiling.  


——  


"It’s such a shame really, this wasn’t at all what I had in mind for a boy so pretty as yourself."  


"Trust me I know what you had in mind, this is better." Ray shot back as the thug paced across the room, subtle nuances in his gait giving away a whole wealth of information that the man clearly didn’t realize he was letting slip.  


"You know, I have to say I’m disappointed. Clearly your reputation is quite the embellishment. The infamous X-Ray, nothing more than a pretty face."  


"You really think I’m pretty?" He simpered, batting his eyelashes at the man, a grin briefly flitting across his features as he taunt was met with a sharp backhand from one of the thug’s hired muscle. He waited for the leader to make his next move, mind already formulating possible responses, when the sound of the man’s phone broke through his concentration. He sighed internally, watching as the goon answered and handed it over to the man in charge only to have it handed over to him seconds later. He narrowly resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he heard a familiar British tone on the other end of the line.  


"Burnie needs you to come in."  


"Vav are you serious? I’m working right now."  


"This is more important."  


"I’m mid-interrogation and this dumbass is giving me everything."  


"Ooo an interrogation. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of those. Has he started trying to ‘force’ you to give him answers yet? Has he realized how out of his depth he is yet? Did he use handcuffs or did he stick with the good old classic rope and chair technique?"  


"Pretty sure he was about to before you rang Vav, no and he stuck with just the rope tying me to the chair, first mistake of many but hey he’s a small time mobster, its not as if I was expecting to be impressed."  


"I’d like to tie you to a chair."  


"Time and place Vav, though I’ll take you up on that when I’m back in the states."  


"Sooner rather than later then…"  


"Vav I told you I…"  


"Agent’s Shawcross and Denecour have been compromised."  
A beat of silence and then, “Let me put you on hold.” Gavin smiled a little, despite himself, as he heard the all too familiar sounds of the group that’d ‘captured’ Ray getting their asses kicked on the other end of the phone before suddenly Ray’s voice was back in his ear loud and comforting as Gavin gave him a quick blow by blow of the situation.  


"So no ideas on location but they’re still alive."  


"As far as we know, Edgar needs them that way."  


"Well that’s a start at least. Guess this means we’re launching the initiative Roosterteeth scraped last month."  


"How did you-"  


"Because Burnie’s a dumbass and right now we’re desperate. I’m guessing they’ve put me on Jones duty?"  


"Actually he’s got me recruiting rage quit, he’s sending you to bring in the big guy."  


"Sounds like a party, I’ll see you on the carrier Vav."  


"Until then X-Ray."  


——  


"Whatever it is you want, the answer’s no."  


Ray sighed internally as he took in the man’s expression, his tired eyes clearly bearing the heavy burden of isolated guilt, the kind that only came from regularly having to battle with inner demons in enforced solitude. It wasn’t a concept the agent was entirely unfamiliar with himself. After all, he’d been alone on the run for a good two years, and with good reason for it, before Gavin had found him and had somehow managed to talk Burnie round to offering him a place at Roosterteeth.  


"You won’t even hear my proposal first?"  


"I don’t have to. I know what your type are like. Either you’re here to kill me, which isn’t going to work out all too well for either parties involved, or you’re here to recruit me which’ll work out even worse. Either way its a solid no and a ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out.’"  


"We’re not trying to recruit you in the way you think we are."  


"Oh aren’t you? It’s been a while since someone made a play for the scientist instead of the other guy… but do you really think I can trust the word of a spy? And who’s this ‘we’ anyway?"  


"Mr Pattillo you’d be very wise not to trust a single word from my lips and yet you’re still listening which says to me that you want to… And that ‘we’ would be Roosterteeth."  


"Roosterteeth? How did they find me?"  


"We never lost you. We’ve just kept our distance until now."  


"Why?"  


"Burnie respects you, trusts you even, and he doesn’t do that with many people. And now he needs you to come in."  


"And what if I refuse?"  


"I’ll persuade you."  


"What, with your fists or your natural sex appeal?" Jack snarked causing a surprised laugh to escape the agent’s lips, temporarily breaking his composure (and he took a moment to be grateful that he’d decided to come alone to scope this man out because frankly, the others would never have let him live that down, especially Gavin) before he managed to school his expression into a lazy smirk.  


"Would that work as a method of persuasion?"  


"As tempting as that offer is, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline."  


"Jack, we’re facing a potential global catastrophe."  


"Well why didn’t you say so? The other guy always fares so brilliantly in those."  


"The redstone has the power to wipe out the entire planet." Ray pulled out his phone, showing the other man a picture Gavin had snapped of the power source in action.  


"Well what does Burnie want me to do. Get the big guy to sit on it and hope it shields the rest of the world from its fallout?"  


"He wants you to find it. It gives off a form of radiation which we’ve so far been unable to trace, and no ones knows radiation like you do. If they did, that’s where I’d be."  


"So Burnie really isn’t after the monster."  


"Based on what he’s told me."  


"And he tells you everything."  


"Perhaps not, but I know someone that he does, and I have my own ways of making him talk."  


"With your sex appeal."  


"With my sex appeal."  


"…I have to say, you’re not what I expected from a Roosterteeth agent."  


"If I’ve surprised you, just wait until you meet Gavin… Does that mean you’ll come in?  


Jack let out a sigh as he nodded, “A decision I’ll immediately regret I’m sure but what can I say Agent ‘Sex Appeal’, you’ve got me intrigued.”  


"It’s Ray, Ray Narvaez Jr., but most people know me as X-Ray back at Roosterteeth."  


The older man laughed a little at that, “Creative name.”  


"It was Gavin’s idea."  


——  


Geoff watched the punching bag soar across the room with a grim sense of satisfaction, the loud thud it made as it hit the floor echoing through the otherwise silent room as he tried for a moment to block out the memories he usually tried to repress with too much drink and music from an era long forgotten.  
Griffon O’Connell… the woman he’d left behind when he’d crashed into the ocean, the woman who likely still believed he’d died in the accident since for her it’s been decades since there’d been any word of ‘Captain America’. He imagined she’d moved on, settled down, had kids even (he hadn’t quite managed to build up the nerve to check just yet, honestly afraid of what he might find if he did)… he hoped whatever had happened, she’d been happy. For Geoff it’d been mere months and he could still remember with utter clarity the soft press of her lips against his, the warm in her voice and the fire in her eyes…  


Another punching bag hurtled across the room, just barely missing the man that’d just entered, grim expression on his face and a file in hand. “Trouble sleeping?”  
"I slept for seventy goddamn years, I think I’ve had my fill… you here with a mission or is gawking at your agents just a secret hobby you like to indulge in from time to time?"  


"Don’t flatter yourself Ramsey, I’ll leave the gawking to Free and Navarez." The soldier’s lips quirked a little at the mention of the two agents as he accepted the file Burnie roughly thrust into his palm.  


"Trying to assimilate me into this brave new world?"  


"Trying to save it asshole." Geoff huffed a laugh at Burnie’s response, somewhat reminded of why it was he’d ultimately decided to stick around at Roosterteeth after he’d been woken up. These people didn’t tread on eggshells or baby him because of what he’d been through and honestly that was exactly what he’d needed in order to stay sane, not that he’d ever admit that to the man in front of him. He flicked through the file, hands catching on an image of a box with an all too familiar glow…  


"Ender’s secret weapon?"  


"Gus Sorola fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you, he thought what we think. That the tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy."  


"And let me guess, somebody strolled in and snatched it right out from under your noses."  


"…Basically yes."  


"You really need to up your standards when it comes to hiring people Burnie, clearly the current recruitment process just isn’t cutting it."  


Burnie flipped him the bird in response before continuing, “We’ll have to bring you up to speed on the rest on the way to the helicarrier. Just a fair warning, the world has got a hell of a lot more fucked up in your absence.”  


"The world was always fucked boss, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing that’d surprise me these days."  


"Fifty bucks says you’re wrong."  


"Done." Geoff grinned, shaking the other man’s hand before moving to grab one of the punching bags from where it lay sprawled out in a sad, misshapen heap in the corner of the room.  


"Oh and Ramsey… is there anything else we should know about the tesseract, before we go any further with this operation?"  


"Just the one thing. You dumbasses should never have dredged it out of the ocean… you should’ve buried it deeper."  


——  


Michael grinned his patented Jones smile as he handed his partner in crime and best friend of five years, Lindsey Tuggey, a glass of champagne, the two of them toasting another successful project and the name JONES blared out to the rest of New York in a radiant glow of egotism and self-sufficient energy.  


"The levels seem to be holding steady."  


"Of course they are, we’re fucking geniuses Linds."  


"I don’t know about that…"  


"No, come on, this tower’s your baby, you should give yourself at least twelve percent of the credit."  


"…Twelve percent?" Lindsey quirked an eyebrow, unimpressed as Michael smiled that unrepentant of his (that would convince anyone else he was being an arrogant fucker but simply told Lindsey he was playing at it).  


"An argument can be made for fifteen."  


"An argument could also be made for you to suddenly become the brand new spokesperson for those giant gummy bears you love so much."  


"You wouldn’t."  


"You think so? You see I’m about eighty eight percent sure I would."  


An amused chuckle escaped Michael’s lips as he raised his hands in mock defeat, “How about next time we put your name on the tower?”  


"My name on the tower, at least sixty percent of the credit and you make an exception for Joe in terms of your ban on office pets."  


"…Done. You drive a hard bargain Tuggey."  


"You’re lucky I do or your company would’ve run itself into the ground years ago Jones."  


Michael jostled her shoulder playfully, moving to pull up a few more statistics on the self-sustaining power grid they’d just set up only to become immediately distracted by a loud cry of, “Micoo!” Followed seconds later by a hyperactive Brit, legs and arms flailing in a fashion that made Michael wander how the hell this guy was one of the best agents Roosterteeth had to offer. If he hadn’t seen the footage of this guy in action, he’d never have believed it.  


"Mogar why didn’t you tell me you’d let this dumbass in?"  


"He surpassed your security protocols sir."  


"Gavin surpassed my security protocols? Really?" He ignored the offended squawk from the man still hanging from his frame, rattling off a reminder to Mogar that they’d have to resolve this security issue as soon as possible if Gavin, of all people, had managed to hack his way past Mogar’s carefully built in firewalls before turning his attention back to the Brit.  


"Michael we need to talk."  


"You breaking up with me Gav?"  


"Of course not Michael. You’re my boi."  


"Damn right I am. So what is it then? Is Burnie finally having a breakdown? Did they manage to figure out how to actually use the tesseract? Or did you just want an excuse to come visit me?"  


"Pssh he missed more than you dumbass, good to see you again Vav."  


"You too Linds, how’s babysitting Michael."  


"It has its ups and downs, mostly the latter, but I’m hanging in there."  


"Stay strong Lindsey."  


"You’re both fucking assholes." Michael cut in, though the grin on his face gave him away.  


"And you love us for it." Lindsey quipped back with a knowing smirk before moving to grab the forgotten champagne, "Sounds like you’ve got work to do so I’ll take this off your hands for now, have fun Michael."  


"Screw you too Lindsey." He called after her, grinning as she flipped the bird in response before disappearing around the corner headed in the general direction of the lifts. 

"So was it actually missing us that brought you here or is the world actually about to implode."  


"Well funny you should say that…"  


Michael internally sighed as he took in Gavin’s expression, “What’s Burnie done this time?”  


"The norse God of mischief may or may not have managed to make off with the redstone."  


"A norse God? You mean like that Ryan guy you supervised before?"  


"Yup, though this one’s a lot less friendly… Burnie’s calling in the initiative."  


The older man stared at the Brit for a moment, trying to gauge whether or not he was joking, before letting out a low whistle. “Wow, he must be desperate.”  


"He’s got Kerry and Caleb, I think in his position I’d be a little desperate too."  


——  


"Agent Ramsey, good to see you out and about." Geoff turned at the sound of the familiar voice, a rare smile turning the corners of his lips as he came face to face with one of the few agents he could say he’d formed a real connection with since he’d been thawed out that damn ice.  


"Good to see you too X-Ray, where’s your partner in crime?"  


"Probably babbling to Michael about something dumb."  


"You mean I get to meet the infamous Michael Jones?"  


"Yup though you might not be so pleased about that once you actually meet the guy. He sometimes takes a while to warm up to people."  


"Well so do I, sounds like we’re a match made in Burnie’s own personal hell."  


Ray’s lips curled a little at that, “You have no idea how right you are… this is Jack by the way, Jack Pattillo. Jack this is Geoff Ramsey, otherwise known as Captain America.”  


Geoff moved forward to shake the man’s hand, impressed by the man’s steady grip despite the obvious nerves he was experiencing given the way his eyes kept flickering about the runway they were on, eyeing up any passing individual as a possible threat… Geoff couldn’t say he exactly blamed him for that. You’d have to be an idiot, after all, to trust everyone who worked for Roosterteeth, “Good to meet you Jack, word is you can find the cube.”  


"Is that the only word on me?"  


"Its the only word I give a damn about." With those words Geoff was pleased to see something relax in the man’s stance, the courteous smile he’d been sporting now coming across a little more genuinely and Geoff quickly found himself realizing, without really meaning to, how attractive that smile was. Well damn, as if he didn’t have enough unresolved tension between the British dumbass and the Puerto Rican spy that’d somehow wormed their way into his life after he’d first been thawed out of the ice. Sometimes 

Geoff genuinely wondered if Burnie assigned him these beautiful, distracting people just to torture him.  


"Guys, you might want to follow me inside in a moment, otherwise its gonna get a little hard to breathe out here." Ray cut in, an amused smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he took in Jack and Geoff’s almost comically wide eyes as the helicarrier began to lift itself above the waves.  


——  


Burnie couldn’t quite help the amused chuckle that escaped his lips as Geoff entered the room, slamming down fifty bucks on the table in front of him before taking a seat, Jack moving to take the chair next to him as Ray moved to take one of the seats on the opposite side.  


"Mr Pattillo, thank you for coming."  


"Thank you for asking nicely, its not a courtesy most people bother with… how long do you need me?"  


"Once we have the redstone, you’re in the clear."  


"And exactly how far have you gotten with that so far." Jack took in Burnie’s expression for a moment before sighing, "Well I guess that answers that, I suppose I’d better get to work then."  


"Agent Narvaez can show you to your lab. Geoff, Dunkelman here will show you to your suit." Geoff looked to where the man gestured, smiling a little at the little wave the young woman offered him before she beckoned him to follow her, just faintly catching the tail end of Ray and Jack’s conversation as they headed in the opposite direction, the agent making some sort of comment the lab having access to all the toys complete with an eyebrow waggle that had the other man desperately trying to hold in laughter as they disappeared around a corner. Geoff quickly turned back, finding himself face to face with the blonde woman’s knowing smile before she’d moved to press a few buttons, Geoff quickly becoming distracted as it opened up a room that contained the one little piece of the past the former soldier had left.  


——  


A few hours later and Geoff found himself grateful that they’d immediately shown him to his suit given that it hadn’t actually taken all that long to get a sighting on this supposed ‘trickster God’ (seriously though, he couldn’t help but wonder, who the hell named a God Edgar? Geoff had lived in two different time periods and he’d never met a goddamn Edgar in his life. No wonder the guy had issues) and before he knew it he’d been bundled into an aircraft with Ray and Gavin, the latter of which had practically launched himself at Geoff once he’d spotted him, grinning and telling the older man he’d missed him (to the sound of Ray’s merciless teasing) before skipping over to help Ray with the controls and receiving an eye roll and a muffled ‘idiot’ respectively for his troubles.  


And now here he was, fighting this alien from who the fuck knows where (he was pretty sure he’d read it somewhere in the files but he hadn’t really been paying so much attention to those details as he had to the fact that this guy had somehow coerced both Kerry and Caleb into doing his bidding) with not much progress being made from either end despite Ray’s attempts, via the intercom on the aircraft he’d arrived in, to get the mad God to surrender.  
He grit his teeth, preparing to once hurl his shield towards the mad man when suddenly a burst of music broke through the relative silence, the iron man suit touching down seconds later between Edgar and Geoff, weapons cocked and aimed at the trickster.  


"Your move asshole." Edgar simply raised his hands in defeat, the armor he’d been wearing moments ago melting away as he handed over the sword he’d been wielding to Geoff, who was quick to relinquish the god of his weapon, as Michael finally allowed the helmet of his suit to shutter down, "Good move."  
The two achievement hunters then turned to assess each other, a smile of what seemed to be approval breaking out across Michael’s face after a moment as he offered Geoff a slight nod, “Ramsey, good to finally put a name to a face.”  


"You too Jones, I always assumed Vav was exaggerating but you really are cute as dicks." He felt gratified to see the slight flush of the man’s cheeks that the armor didn’t quite conceal, moving over to restrain their newly acquired prisoner as they waited for the aircraft to touch down and pick them up.  


"You’re not so bad yourself. Tell me, when Gus used that serum one you, were muscles the only part of you that grew or…"  


"You want to find out sometime when we don’t have a norse god in handcuffs?"  


"That would depend on the norse god. Edgar’s a fucking psycho but, based on what I’ve heard about his brother, him in handcuffs might be a sight worth seeing sometime."  


"Hey idiots, you can work out your gay orgy later, Burnie wants us back at base asap."  


"I missed you too Ray."  


"Yeah, yeah get in the damn aircraft dumbass."  


Michael laughed a little at that before turning to Geoff with a look that couldn’t help but unnerve the man a little. “Fancy a lift? I promise to keep my hands in ‘workplace approved’ place at all times… unless of course you’d like me to throw Burnie’s handbook out of the window in which case I’m sure we can come to some kind of arrangement…”  


"Did anyone ever tell you you’re about as subtle as a brick?"  


"I live in a giant tower with my name on it in bold glowing letters. And besides, you don’t seem to mind it all that much."  


"Touche."  


"Jones, Ramsey, aircraft. We can flirt later."  


"Is that a promise Ray?"  


"We’ll see Jones."  


——  


They were about halfway back to base when a storm suddenly started to build around them, Edgar’s gaze suddenly being drawn to the end of plane, practically boring a hole into the ramp there.  


"What’s the matter, scared of a little thunder?" Geoff couldn’t quite resist taunting.  


"I’m not overly fond of what follows." As if to add emphasis to his words the ramp to the aircraft was suddenly struck open by a bolt of lightening a man with somehow perfectly coifed hair and an intent look in his eyes (which in a certain light could probably be mistaken for madness) burst through the newly entrance, his eyes skimming over the group before landing on Edgar who he grabbed onto, pulling him back through the door and leaving the Achievement Hunters in a bewildered silence.  


"So was that?"  


"God of Thunder? Yup, he’s kind of top isn’t he."  


"Maybe when he isn’t stealing our prisoners. If he lets this guy go, our chances at finding the tesseract are practically fucking non-existent." Michael cut in, already reassembling his suit ready to follow after the pair of gods.  


"Wait Jones we need to have some kind of plan of attack."  


"I already have a plan; attack."  


Geoff stared after Michael as the man hurtled after them, turning to the agents piloting the craft and asking, “Is he always-“  


"Full of it? Yeah that’s Michael. He claims its part of his charm so you’ll either learn to love it or will probably end up wanting to throttle him at every given opportunity."  


"I don’t see why those things have to be mutually exclusive." He offered, noting Ray’s amused smirk out of the corner of his eye as he made sure he had his parachute was secure and prepared to jump, "Let Burnie know we’ll be running a little late, I’m gonna go make sure that fucker doesn’t get himself killed." And with that he leapt from the craft.  


——  


The scene Geoff had ultimately arrived to was just about as chaotic as the man could’ve predicted, the norse God that’d made off with their prisoner wielding a hefty looking hammer above his head as Michael aimed blast after blast at the man. After a brief skim of their surroundings to confirm their prisoner hadn’t escaped (thankfully Edgar seemed far too intrigued by the battle taking place below him to think about running), he sighed, unlatching his parachute from his shoulders before moving to intervene.  


"Hey assholes, that’s enough." He turned to face the God wielding the hammer (Ryan if he remembered correctly), for a moment getting caught up in the man’s otherworldly gaze that burned with an intensity that was, honestly, a little dizzying if he held it for too long… He managed to shake it off though, refocusing his attention on the situation at hand as he continued, "Look I don’t know what your plan is here."  


"I’ve come to stop Edgar and bring him to justice."  


"Well guess what, that’s what we want too buddy so how about you put the hammer down-"  


"Um Geoff? Not sure that’s the best idea, guy’s kinda attached to his hammer."  


"You want me to put the hammer down?" A glint of a dark sort of humor briefly flitted its way across the god’s features for a moment and then suddenly the whole forest surrounding them was shaking as he slammed his hammer into the ground, Michael losing his balance as a result as Geoff blocked the worst of the blast with his shield.  
After a few moments of silence, the ex-soldier stood up, wandering over to Ryan with an unimpressed frown marring his features, “Are we fucking done here?”  


——  


Burnie paced around the glass cage that contained Edgar, a smile with just a hint of smugness curling the corners of his lips as he did, “Just in case you haven’t grasped this yet. You try to escape, you scratch, touch or even breathe too hard on this glass and…” He flicked a lever, watching as the God took in the drop that suddenly revealed itself below, 

“Thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap. You get how that works right? One press of this button here and we bury you so far in the ground that they won’t even have to dig you a hole.”  


"A hole with a glass ceiling? How very like the people of Achievement City you are… I have to say, this cage is almost impressive for your planet, though it wasn’t originally built for me I think."  


"Built for something a lot stronger than you."  


"Oh I’ve heard." Edgar smirked a little, the nature of that smirk unnerving Burnie to the extent that he was almost tempted to press the button and drop the god right now, consequences be damned… but then they might never save Kerry or Caleb from his influence so instead he grit his teeth and walked away from the glass, knowing that the God’s smug gaze was following him every damn step of the way.  


——  


Geoff sighed, turning away from the monitor they’d all been crowded around to address the group gathered in the meeting room, “Right so this asshole’s gonna give us nothing to work with here so Ryan, what’s his game?”  


"He has an army, though he wouldn’t say which planet they were from which leaves a lot of scope for the quality of said army …I doubt my brother would deal with amateurs though, especially for something like this… He plans to use them to gain control of the Earth and he’s probably offered them the redstone as payment."  


"So an army from outer space?" Geoff cut in, tone almost disbelieving.  


"He must be building another portal to bring them here then. That’s why he needed Caleb." Jack pointed out.  


"Caleb?"  


"He’s an expert in this field."  


"He’s a friend… I met him the first time I visited this planet." Ryan’s expression was suddenly vulnerable, a look that was almost out of place on the God’s features, and Ray couldn’t quite fight back the urge to comfort the man in what little ways he could.  


"It’s not him who’s working for Edgar, Caleb’s been put under some kind of spell along with Kerry."  


"It was meant to be me," A quiet voice suddenly broke through the conversation, the Brit who’d been silent up to this point suddenly making his voice known, "Edgar wanted me and Kerry got in the way and that’s why they have him now. They were both only trying to do their jobs when Edgar took control of them. Whatever this is, its not them."  


"So recovering Caleb and Kerry’s a priority. Now, has anyone got any ideas why Edgar let us take him? I mean he had plenty of time to run off while these idiots here," Geoff gestured to Michael and Ryan, "Were battling it out so why didn’t he? I can’t see him leading his armies from here."  


"I don’t think we should be really focusing on Edgar here. I mean come on, the guy’s a fucking certified psychopath." Jack cut in.  


"Hey, Edgar may be beyond reason but he’s still my brother."  


"He killed eighty people in two days."  


"…He’s adopted."  


Shortly after that Michael had arrived and they’d begun to discuss exactly how it was that the tesseract functioned, Michael and Jack ultimately bonding when they realized they both understood far more about its intricacies than the rest of the room who all sat and listened with various degrees of confusion written across their faces. Gavin’s expression, in particular, had been pretty amusing and at one point in the meeting Michael had to stop mid-sentence, bursting into laughter when he’d spotted it. Eventually Michael and Jack had gone off to ‘play’ with the helicarrier equipment, leaving Geoff to talk with Ryan some more about the situation with Edgar as Gavin went off to get in some target practice and work off a little steam while Ray went… Geoff wasn’t entirely sure where but, of all the people on this ship, he probably trusted that man the most to be left to his own devices.  


——  


An hour later found the God alone and examining the cloud that surrounded the helicarrier when a voice suddenly pulled him from his observations, "You okay?" Ryan turned to face the voice, a smile crossing his features as he recognized the blonde agent who’d been working on his case back when he’d first crash landed on earth.  


"I’ve been better." He admitted after a moment, Barbara offering a look of sympathy as she moved to rest a gentle hand on the god’s shoulder.  


"Hey we’ve got our best working on getting Caleb back, he’ll be fine."  


"I hope so… Caleb’s a good man."  


"He talks about you a lot you know. You kinda changed his whole perspective on things. Did it for all of us to be honest."  


"You were better as you were. My people in Achievement City like to pretend we’re superior but then we come here and destroy like common creepers."  


"Creepers?"  


"Creepers, you know… Green, checkered, explode when you get too close to one… really? You don’t have those?"  


"Unless you’re counting sexual harassers or people with no concept of personal space then I’d have to say a no on that one."  


"Well… they’re repulsive, they decimate all in their path… When I first came to Earth, Edgar’s wrath followed me here. Now he brings you war and I can’t help but feel, at least in part, responsible for it."  


"The war hasn’t started yet." Burnie’s voice cut in drawing the agent and God’s attention to the man as he entered the room, "Do you think you can convince your brother to locate the tesseract for us?"  


"Honestly, I doubt it. Edgar can be incredibly stubborn, what’s more his desire to see me suffer might be driving him here more than his desire for power."  


"Well then how do we combat that?"  


"What exactly are you asking me to do?"  


"Whatever you’re prepared to do."  


"Edgar’s our prisoner, its only a matter of time until we locate the tesseract, I see no need to resort to other methods."  


"If Edgar’s our prisoner then why does it seem to me like he’s the only one who actually wants to be on this goddamn ship?"  


——  


"Not bad… you know there’s not many that can sneak up on me," Edgar spun to face the assassin, a look in his eyes that almost equaled respect as he did. "Let me guess, you want to know about Agents Shawcross and Denecour?" You see I’d say I’ve expanded their minds."  


"And how about after you’re king of the castle, what happens to their minds then?"  


"Sentiment from the ex-assassin, how sweet." The god cooed, tilting his head mockingly as he watched for the man’s reaction.  


"Sentiment is for children and fools. I owe them a debt, that’s all."  


"A debt?"  


"They protected someone important to me."  


"So this is sentiment then. Let me guess, the archer with the messy hair and the peculiar nose?"  


"I don’t see how the identity of who they are is important here."  


"Oh but I think it is. Well isn’t this adorable, the assassin’s in love. Why else, after all, would you be so concerned to secure the release of the people who protected him? So... what would you do if I vowed to spare them?"  


"Not watch you plummet thirty thousand feet with a smile on my face… I’ll be sure to compose myself with a solemn frown instead."  


"Ooo so cold Narvaez. But I like this, the whole world in the balance and you bargain for the lives of two men?"  


"Regimes fall every day… but so do men like you."  


"What is it you want?"  


"It’s really not that complicated. I’ve got red in my ledger, I’d like to wipe it out."  


"Can you? Can you really wipe out that much red? You and I both know that your ledger isn’t just red, its gushing and nothing will ever wipe that out… I won’t kill Caleb, or Kerry. I’ll make them hold you down as I touch my sword to your archers chest and have him kill you while I watch and laugh and then, when there’s finally as much red on the floor as their is on that ledger of yours, I’ll release him and watch him scream and cry before I split his skull. Sound like a good deal to you Agent Narvaez?"  


"Jack’s right… you’re a fucking psychopathic monster."  


"No, you brought the monster."  


"So Pattillo, that’s your play."  


"What?"  


Ray tapped into his earpiece transmitting over to Barbara at the other side of the helicarrier, “Edgar means to unleash the hulk. Keep Pattillo in the lab and send Vav and Ryan down, I’m on my way.”  


——  


Burnie walked into the lab where Jack and Michael were working, stopping short when he realized the lack of… well, work actually taking place. ”What exactly are you doing here Jones?”  


"That’s the thing, you see, we were kinda wondering the same thing about you Burns."  


"You’re supposed to be locating the redstone."  


"We are. Model’s locked on and sweeping for the signature. When we get a hit, we’ll be able to locate it within half a mile of its whereabouts."  


"You’ll get your damn cube back, no fucking problems… what’s ‘phase 2’?"  


As if on cue, Geoff stormed in throwing down a box of weapons on the table, “Phase fucking 2 is where they use the redstone to power weapons.”  


"Geoff we gathered everything related to the redstone after what happened. That doesn’t mean we…"  


"Bullshit." Michael cut in, flipping around a monitor that contained detailed plans of weapons resembling Ender’s old ones almost down to the very last detail.  


"I was right Burnie, the world’s just as fucked up as its always been."  
Ray wondered in moments later, Ryan and Gavin in tow and, for some reason, the sight of the two agents set something off in Jack as he turned and snapped at the pair, “Did either of you know about this?”  


"About what?" Gavin moved over to look at the screen Jack gestured to, the guilty look on his face moments later giving him away as he opened his mouth to explain, only to get cut off by Ray.  


"He doesn’t need to explain himself to you. Now, Pattillo, would you like to consider removing yourself from this environment."  


"I was pretty well removed before your team came knocking on my door."  


"Edgar’s manipulating you."  


"Who isn’t these days? Now if you’d kindly stand the fuck down because I’m not going anywhere until I’ve got some answers that’d be just great."  


"Why is Roosterteeth suddenly building weapons of mass destruction?"  


"…Because of him." Burnie admitted with a sigh, gesturing in Ryan’s general direction.  


"Me?"  


"Last year Earth had a visitor from another fucking world and we all learned that not only are we not alone in the universe but that we are ridiculously, to the point that it’s almost fucking comical, outgunned."  


"Achievement City wants nothing but peace with your people."  


"But they’re not the only ones out there and we need to be ready when people from other worlds with other ideas than peace coming knocking on our door."  


"It was your work with the redstone that brought Edgar and his armies here. It is a signal for all the realms that Earth is ready for a higher form of war."  


Geoff reeled at Ryan’s words, spinning on his heels to face Burnie, an accusatory glint clearly visible in his eyes, "A higher form of fucking war. Do you hear that Burnie? I told you. You should’ve fucking buried it deeper."  


"I told you so Ramsey, really? How fucking mature."  


"One of us is approaching their first full century on the planet Burnie and its not you. The same one of us that, apparently, has managed to gain the maturity to have a fucking conscience-"  


After that, the room descended into frenzied bickering as Geoff and Michael began to clash over the latter’s past in the weapons industry, Ryan and Burnie debating the merits of their respective planet’s inhabitants, meanwhile Jack continued to question Ray and, on a wider level, Roosterteeth’s motives for bringing him aboard this ship.  


And Gavin stood in the middle of it all, progressively getting more and more frustrated to the point that he wandered across the room, grabbed hold of the sword (which seemed to be glowing a little brighter than before) and hurling it against the wall, something near the hilt shattering in the process as he yelled, “Can you all just bloody shut it!”  


The room fell silent, looks that varied from apologetic, to sheepish, to still mildly pissed off appearing on the faces of the others gathered in the lab as they turned to face the Brit. “We’re meant to be a team, we’re meant to be tracking down Kerry and Caleb and fixing this bloody mess. We can argue later but right now, we keep our problems to ourselves… We’re meant to be professionals, we’re meant to be the ‘Achievement Hunters Initiative’… now I’m starting to see why they bloody scraped it. We find the redstone, we take down Edgar and we save Earth, leave your issues with each other at the door, or I swear the next arrow I notch to this bow won’t be aimed at the bloody enemy.”  
There was a beat of surprised silence before a small beep cut into it, sending Michael and Jack into action as they read the stats on the screens, “Got it. Should be getting readings in 3, 2… fuck.”  


"What is it?"  


"I have a feeling we’re all about to find out." As if on cue the helicarrier began to shake, the sounds the engines had been making suddenly quieting in a way that was nothing short of alarming when your entire base was suspended in the clouds by that very aspect of their technology.  
Geoff took one look at the varied expressions of his ‘team mates’ as Gavin had just reminded him, putting on his game face as he mentally retraced his steps to figure out where his shield would be and told the others to, ‘suit up’.  


——  


It was a weary silence that the Achievement Hunters found themselves in a few hours later. Edgar was gone, so was his sword and the redstone it contained. They’d just about managed to patch up the engines (thanks to some pretty quick work by Michael and Geoff) but they’d lost Pattillo after he’d ‘hulked out’ and had managed to launch himself out of the end of the helicarrier… Ryan was also missing though the noticeable lack of the steel trap wasn’t exactly speaking well for his fate right now and worst of all… “Agent Shawcross is dead.”  


No one had seen him die except Burnie but apparently he’d been himself when he had. Honestly, none of them were really sure whether that was a blessing or actually made it worse.  


"I’m going to be honest with you all here, we were looking into using redstone to forge weapons… but I’d never really put my money on that idea because I was betting on another, crazier horse. There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more and fight the battles we never could. The Achievement Hunter’s initiative… and no one believed in that more than Kerry Shawcross. He died still believing in that idea, still believing in heroes."  
There was a loud crash as Michael shoved his chair violently back, storming from the room only to be followed by Gavin and Ray a few moments later. Burnie sighed, moving to take a seat opposite Geoff as he mused aloud, “I suppose its an old fashioned idea.”  


——  


Geoff found the three of them an hour or so later after looking through what seemed like endless and practically identical corridors. ”Was he married?”  


A beat of silence then Ray answered, “Pretty sure he was married to his work most of the time.”  


"I’m sorry, it sounds like he was a good man."  


"The best." Came Gavin’s quiet voice as the Brit continued to smooth his hands in soothing patterns along Michael’s shoulders.  


"He was a fucking idiot."  


"Why, for believing?" Geoff couldn’t help but shoot back, the anger he’d been forcing down since the incident in the lab flaring up in response to the redhead’s words.  


"For taking on Edgar alone." And then Michael had looked up and Geoff had seen the pain in his eyes and suddenly all traces of rage were gone as he felt the overwhelming urge to pull the younger man into a hug, an urge he only narrowly resisted as he moved to take a seat beside Ray.  


"Sometimes there isn’t a way out Michael."  


"You think I don’t know that? You may be from another fucking time but you’re not the only one of us that’s lost people."  


"…I know. It never does get any fucking easier does it?"  


A silence fell upon the room for a few moments before Ray spoke again, “This blood’s on Burnie’s hands as much as Edgar’s, he went too far this time and we all know that, but right now we have to put that aside and think about what his next move will be.”  


"He made it personal."  


"That’s not the point Vav."  


"That is the bloody point X-Ray. Because he did it for a reason, he knew he needed to take us out in order to win."  


"He doesn’t just want to win, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants fireworks and a parade and his name written in big fucking neon letters across the… that motherfucker."  


——  


Michael Jones could safely say that at this point in life there weren’t a lot of things that threw him… that being said offering a homicidal ‘god’ a drink hadn’t exactly been on the list of things he thought he’d do today. But wasn’t the world a weird fucking place sometimes.  


"Please tell me you’re going to appeal to my ‘better nature’."  


"Actually I was thinking mostly threatening… yeah threatening sounds pretty fucking great right now."  


"You should’ve left your suit on for that."  


"Probably, drink?"  


"Stalling won’t stop this you know."  


"Not stalling, threatening. At least fucking try to keep up."  


"My armies are coming, what have I to fear?"  


"Us. Because let’s do a headcount here. Your brother, the demi-God; a super soldier, living legend who actually lives up the damn legend; a man with breath taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins and you have managed to successfully piss off all of them."  


"That was the plan."  


"Well that’s the dumbest fucking plan I’ve ever heard."  


"I have an army."  


"We have a hulk."  


"I thought your pet wandered off."  


"You’re missing the fucking point. There’s no way this ends well for you because if we can’t protect this world… well you can be damned sure we’ll hunt you down and make you pay for it."  


"How will they when they’re too busy fighting you?" The God moved to tap his sword to Michael’s chest only to frown when the familiar red sheen didn’t begin to cloud the man’s eyes.  


"Can’t get it up huh?" Instead of responding, the god simply flung him across the room, "Mogar, anytime now would be great."  


"You will all kneel before me." Edgar claimed with a sneer as his hand locked around Michael’s throat.  


"Sorry but there’s only five men I’d willingly kneel before and you just don’t make the cut, not even fucking close." And with that he was hurled from the window only to emerge moments later as Mogar (finally) managed to assemble his suit just seconds before he hit the ground. He hovered next to the window, taking in Edgar’s frustrated expression with a sense of satisfaction as he added, "By the way, there was one other person you pissed off. His name was Kerry Shawcross."  


——  


Shortly after that the streets erupted into chaos as the ‘army’ Edgar had claimed to have finally arrived on the scene, a force of fairly formidable looking warriors that Ryan recognized as the skeleton archers of the darker regions of his and Edgar’s home world.  
He paid them little heed however, knowing that his fellow ‘Achievement Hunters’ would have it covered until he joined them, his attention instead turning to seeking out his brother on the roof of Jones tower.  


"Edgar, turn off the redstone or I’ll destroy it."  


"Brother you can do many things but we both know you can’t do that."  


"You’d be amazed what I find myself capable of for these people."  


"Ahh yes your precious little Achievement Hunters. I saw you before in that field with Ramsey and Jones remember? Something tells me that brother dearest has a crush."  


"What of it?"  


"Well won’t it just be crushing for you when they die at the hands of my army."  


"The only thing that’ll be crushed today is your egotism… Look around you. Do you think this chaos will end with your rule?"  


"…It’s too late to stop it."  


"Not if we work together."  


Edgar feigned hope for a second, watching as his brother seemed to be taken in by it, before moving to stab him, surprised when his wrist was caught and held in place by his brother’s, “You honestly think I haven’t learned your tricks by this point little brother? Don’t forget who taught you most of them.”  
"I managed to fool you once."  


"Isn’t there an Earth saying about that?" Edgar just glared daggers in response, desperately trying to shake his brother’s hold as Ryan tugged him back inside Jones tower. "I suppose I can’t trust you to stay put without a little help can I?" Ryan mused aloud before placing his hammer on top of his brother’s chest and moving to grab Edgar’s discarded sword from the ground, "Don’t mind if I borrow this do you? Thank you brother, when we manage to defeat your armies it’ll be all because of you." And with that he took off, leaving behind the sound of his brother’s long string curses as he tried and failed to shift the hammer pinning him to the floor of Jones tower."  


——  


The battle was brutal and long, the skeleton armies turning out to have unexpected steeds in the form of giant spiders (none of them had commented on it but Gavin had looked a little paler when they’d had that particular revelation) and for a while they’d seemed that they were fighting a losing battle… but then Jack had showed up.  


"So… this all seems horrible."  


"I’ve seen worse."  


"Sorry."  


"Actually, we could use a little worse." Ray admitted with a smile that Jack, after a few moments, returned.  


After that the battle seemed to turn in their favor. The biggest problem now was trying to figure out how to close that goddamned portal that was allowing these creatures to reach Earth in the first place.  


"Geoff they’re just going to keep coming unless we do something about that damn portal."  


"Our biggest guns couldn’t touch it."  


"Maybe it’s not about guns…" Ray paused, concentrating on something for a moment before his hand moved to his earpiece, "Michael? Send Ryan my way, he’s got something I have a feeling we’re gonna need."  


——  


Edgar was scowling like a spoilt child by the time Jack (or ‘the other guy’) entered Jones tower, “Enough of this! I am a God! You are, all of you, beneath me and I will not be bullied by-” And suddenly the weight over his chest was gone and he was hurtling repeatedly through the air as he made contact with the floor of stark tower over and over again (until the god’s head was spinning) before finally being dropped to the ground with a loud thud.  
"Puny god." The other guy offered as he trudged his way out of the tower leaving Edgar to wander if, for once, he should’ve just kept his damned mouth shut.  


——  


"Caleb?"  


"Ray, Ryan… I’m sorry I-"  


"It’s fine, you couldn’t control your actions and-"  


"Is Kerry okay?" A grim silence followed his question that answered it well enough. "I hope at least it was quick."  


A beat of silence and then, "Is there any way to stop the redstone?"  


“Just one. There must have been a part of me that was aware of what was going on even as I was under Edgar’s influence because I managed to devise a failsafe option.”  


“Involving his sword?” Ryan asked as he held out the weapon in question towards the man.  


Caleb’s face broke out into a relieved grin as he nodded, “Involving his sword. It’s good to see you again Ryan.”  


\----  


Michael cussed as he caught Burnie’s words on the other end of the line, “Fucking missiles? Are you kidding me?”  


“Wish I was.”  


“How long?”  


“3 Minutes.”  


“Fuck… we’ll take care of it Burnie, kindly do me a favor in return and tell your bosses to go fuck themselves.”  


“Gladly.”  


“Knew there was a reason I didn’t entirely despise you.”  


\----  


Ray’s voice came crackling through the comms moments later as he, Ryan and Caleb set up the necessary measures to get the sword ready to deactivate the portal, “Guys I can shut the portal. Are you all hearing me? I can shut it.”  


“Do it then!”  


“No wait!”  


“Michael these things are still coming in fast.”  


“Burnie’s supervisors launched a nuke and I think I know just where to put it.”  


\----  


In the end, Michael had only just made it back through the portal before they’d closed it, plummeting to the earth until Jack had reached out and caught him, managing to cushion the blow and they both made impact with the ground. They’d all then set him down and waited.  


\----  


The world came back to Michael in a series of blurs, colors, voices and then suddenly all in a rush as he blinked rapidly, lungs taking in greedy gulps of air as his fellow Achievement Hunters collectively breathed a sigh of relief.  


"You’re a fucking dumbass Jones."  


"Hey it fucking worked didn’t it?"  


"Don’t you think for a fucking second that gets you off the hook." And then Geoff had pulled him into a tight hug, ignore where Michael’s armor dug into his arms almost painfully as he embraced the luckiest son of a bitch he’d ever come across in his damn life, the others joining in after a few moments (excluding the hulk though he seemed to be watching them with a look that Geoff was almost tempted to call fond) until they were all in some weird sort of group hug, ignoring injuries and the residual destruction around them for a moment as they allowed themselves to bask in the fact that it’d actually worked, they’d actually managed to save the damn world, and it felt fucking incredible.  


——  


It was Michael who, after all the dancing about each other and flirting and playful teasing, that finally made the first move. It’d been a seemingly casual remark, a comment about how in a place as big as Jones tower, it could get pretty lonely with just two inhabitants and that there’d always be space for the team there if they wanted it… for the sake of the initiative of course.  


Then he’d started organizing little things like trips out or fancy meals or any other number of things that could be considered as dates. Initially, they’d just assumed Michael had been showing off his seemingly endless wealth but as time had gone on, and they’d gotten to know the man better, they’d realized what Lindsay had years ago. That Michael wasn’t quite the asshole he often pretended to be and that it was mostly just a front to keep the people that didn’t matter out.  
And Gavin, Ray, Ryan, Jack and Geoff had never exactly classed as people that didn’t matter.  
It was Ryan who’d, ultimately, called him out on it, claiming that the man’s actions were similar to that of the ‘courting rituals’ of Achievement City to which Michael had blushed a little and had gone uncharacteristically quiet in a way that was so damn adorable that Geoff really couldn’t help himself when he’d leant over to capture the man’s lips with his own.  


After that the relationship had progressed pretty damn quickly (but really they’d all been dancing around each other for months, even years in some cases, and they already lived together so they didn’t exactly see how it would do any harm to just let it) and by the time the year anniversary of Edgar’s attack rolled around, Geoff found that he’d never been happier. Of course he’d always miss Griffon and Gus and the other people he’d seen as family that he’d been forced to leave behind when he’d crashed that plane into the ocean... but he had a new family now.  


He had Burnie, sarcastic fucker and a piece of shit sometimes yet easily one of the best friends he’d made since being thawed from the ice. He had Lindsay, newly appointed CEO of Michael’s company and a match for the man in every sense of the word. In another life where Michael’s inclinations had lain another way, Geoff was pretty sure they’d have made a terrifyingly brilliant power couple. He had Barbara, the blonde agent from the helicarrier who had an extreme fondness of puns, a truly inspired sense of humor and (much to Geoff’s humbleness and slight embarrassment) had one of the biggest collections of Captain America memorabilia he’d ever seen. He had Caleb, the scientist Edgar had captured, who’d turned out to be a pretty decent guy and clearly a fairly intelligent give the fact that his failsafe had been the thing that’d really ended up saving the world. Sometimes they even jokingly called him the seventh Achievement Hunter.  


Most importantly, Geoff had his boys, the same boys he’d never have met if he hadn’t crashed into the ice and for the first time in his life, Geoff found himself actually grateful for the way things had happened… because he wouldn’t trade the feeling he had whenever he was with his boys now for anything in the whole damn world.  


——  


If you asked anyone a year ago what the biggest tower in New York was, they’d have immediately directed you to the Jones tower. Big tower, can’t miss it. Seriously. It’s there in huge glowing letters. And technically the answer hadn’t changed all that much. Jones tower was still the largest tower in New York but now the skyscraper bore a different brand. A green star with a black background surrounded by four curved green lines that formed a circle around the star and something resembling a gamer stick, or a chess piece, or a man with a really tall neck (depending on who you asked) in the centre. A symbol of protection, of hope… or of the assholes that broke the city one time (again depending on who you asked)... the symbol of the Achievement Hunters.


End file.
